Monday, 13 March 2017

Spring has definitely made a few appearances here in Derbyshire. We've had a few gloriously sunny days where the gorgeous shot of yellow daffodils brightens your day no end.

We've been out to feed newborn lambs and I've already been asked when Easter Bunny visits!

We had a bit of a change around at half term so we had an empty room for a night. What better excuse for some indoor camping?

Apparently, the tent was a bit smelly! They also fell asleep long before midnight so completely missed out on their stash of midnight treats! Back to school brought World Book Day, so an after school craft session making a Miffy mask and matching carrot...

One Miffy outfit later - courtesy of H&M - and off to school we go, swiftly followed by tears as a confidence crisis hit. Least she had her favourite bunny to cuddle. When I collected her from school she was all smiles. We dashed to the shops to use the book voucher and she keenly dived into her new book.

This post follows the sad news that Dick Bruna, Miffy's creator, has passed away. Not before selling 85million copies of his little square books, ideal for small hands. We will be eternally grateful for his imagination in creating such a sweet little bunny. His stories certainly prompted a love of reading from a young age and I really hope that continues.

Tuesday, 14 February 2017

Right in the middle of Ashbourne town centre, you'll find The Gallery Café house in a lovely, bright & spacious upstairs space. The walls are decorated with beautiful art work from various artists, there are greetings cards and gifts available to purchase too.

The café has twice won Derbyshire's best café awards and it's easy to see why. There's a fantastic menu to choose from, lovely warm soups, delicious and healthy salads, generous sandwiches as well as a brilliamt brunch menu that includes pancakes with bacon and maple syrup or blueberry pancakes with syrup. The menu is clearly marked with GF so it's really easy for coeliacs to order from the menu.

Apparently they're going to trial a glutenfree version of their pancake dishes soon, which would be great. The café is also a stockist for Friedmans Glutenfree bread so if you choose the soup or sandwich option, you'll be pleased to know it will be served in a great glutenfree roll with delicious homemade potato salad and green salad topped with amaranth.

The staff are all super friendly and offered to adjust the menu for little ones, anything can be served as a half portion and even if it's not on the menu, they suggested simple child friendly sandwich options for us. Mark pointed out the fantastic collection of children's books and crayons that they have available which helped the grown ups enjoy an extra coffee and hot chocolate!

So we enjoyed a child's glutenfree cheese roll, a regular portion of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, a regular open sandwich with masses of smoked salmon, cream cheese, fresh chives and plenty of fresh salads & I enjoyed a warm beetroot, spinach, goats cheese, walnut and balsamic salad. All of these were absolutely delicious.

Perhaps the best bit of all is the fact that ALL of their freshly baked cakes are gluten free. So we had a free choice of flapjacks, brownie, lemon drizzle, chocolate, orange & almond, chocolate cake, apple and cinnamon freshly baked cakes! Spoilt for choice.

What I love about his café is how spacious it is being arranged over two floors with large tables for a family of four. They are very welcoming as far as children are concerned. Most of all, the food that is offered here is always made freshly to order just for you.

The bread they use is also available for glutenfree customers to order in for themselves to take home, so it's a great way of getting a good quality bread on your doorstep.

We all enjoyed a lovely, leisurely lunch here today. If you visit, I sincerely hope you do too.

welcome!

Cupcake Corner currently on maternity leave.

Luxury fairy cakes & brownies all of which are gluten free. Our cupcakes are all entirely handmade, with the finest ingredients including free range eggs from our neighbouring farm in the peak district, fairtrade sugars and cocoa. What a lovely treat, cupcakes baked just for you & personalised.

Based in Ashbourne, Derbyshire Charlotte is currently expecting her second little girl, but is usually busy preparing cupcake giftboxes and party towers, hope you were one of the lucky ones to be thrilled with your very own personalised cupcakes!

Phil Vickery, TV Chef, loves Cupcake Corner cakes, he said "I have to say I am very impressed, the packaging, colours and style is great and as for the cakes...they are very good indeed, seriously good in fact. Your ideas sound very exciting, I'm sure you'll go far"

About Me

Charlotte moved back home to Derbyshire in 2004, and had a little girl a year later. Since being diagnosed with Coeliac disease in 2008, she has been frantically baking in order to still eat her favourite cupcakes, and she hit on a winner of a recipe! Try for yourself